"Hunting season is well under way and so is the HUNTS FOR HEROES team. We are well on out way of fulfilling our goal of taking wounded soldiers on 100 hunts and hunting has been indeed good.

Last week, we hosted three wounded men and their wives from Brooks Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX. Also on the hunt ....were several others..... the hunters shot over 50 ducks in two days.

After the duck hunt Saturday morning, all of our guests practiced shooting skills by having a clay shoot. Some of the wives learned how to shoot a rifle/shotgun for the first time. The wives each shot a whitetail doe Saturday afternoon. Another soldier.... shot a doe as well as a nice buck the following week in South Texas.

The HFH team provided food that was to die for. Bar-B-Que, Chili&rice, eggs, sausage, bacon as well as every kind of pastry know to man was in abundance. HFH even bought coolers so our guests could take home some of the left-over food, along with the duck breasts.

Some of the HFH team will be going to BAMC the week following Thanksgiving to see if arrangements can be made to cook some of the venison for Solders/Marines still too sick to attend one of our events.

Plans are well under way to do a television with wounded back on active duty with the 4th ID hunting geese in December. Several deer hunts are planned for the management season in January and February. We will soon be planning fishing trips for the spring.

I would like to thank all the people that have helped us financially on behalf of the HFH team. Our team is the hardest working, dedicated, giving bunch of people in the world but could not do this without your help. Your support speaks volumes in so far as supporting the troops..........Thank you."

They also have chapters in South Carolina , Arkansas , Mississippi , and California and what they do is take soldiers who've been wounded in battle on hunting and fishing trips and other outdoor related activities. All free of charge.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. If you would like to participate in honoring the brave men and women who serve this great country, you can find out how by going here.

And these last letters posted show she's having a rough time. So, I was hoping that folks might want to send her some supportive letters?

Her address (and it's posted on her blog, so I'm not giving anything away) is:

PvtMorgan, Cynthia I

D co. 4th Plt., Class #0705

3d Bn, 13th Inf Regt

5385 Jackson Blvd USATC&FJ

Fort Jackson, SC 29207-6110

I'd like to mention here (because I know Cindy won't toot her own horn) that in the midst of everything else going on in training, Cindy tried to make sure that others in training with her who were getting No mail? got some notes and cards from troop supporters)

So now, I was hoping folks could "show her some love":) And whatever happens next for Cindy? I will continue to admire her!

I first 'met' JP when he was blogging from Afghanistan in 2004, on a now-defunct blog.

And I think one of the best posts he ever had on that blog was the "Golden Rules of Care Packages". Since he's getting ready to deploy, I thought it might be time to repost those "Rules"? (and please remember, this is SATIRE...I remember falling off my chair laughing the first time I read it:)

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"So, here are my rules on Care Packages. They were originally published on April 14, 2004, on my now defunct milblog "The National Guard Experience" from Afghanistan. But now they're here to help you before you piss off another soldier or anyone in the military overseas (joking).

1. Please, NO MORE MAGAZINES DATED BACK TO 1980. The average person keeps old magazines for 29 weeks before they throw them out. They're useless to us. Why don't you just mail us your garbage instead? If we wanted useless news, we'd go ask a local National. I'd actually like to see you read one of those old magazines to get your news info, instead of watching CBS or CNN.

2. Don't send a typed letter and copied signature. If a soldier has time to write you back or email, you must have time to send a handwritten letter. Nobody back home could be so busy that they can't write. Most officeworkers spend their time surfing the net or drooling on their keyboard. Trust me, I'm a National Guardsman, but in the Civilian world I work in an office. Receiving a typed letter is the lowest form of support known to deployed troops.

3. Do not send Beef Jerky. I repeat, DO NOT send Beef Jerky. Unless the war just started and you were the first person to get a care package to a soldier, don't do it. It's been years now since the war started and we've got Beef Jerky coming out the wazoo. If your goal is to disappoint a lonely soldier in a war-ravaged country, send it, but otherwise don't believe all the hype about Beef Jerky. It's a damn conspiracy. You may as well send sh%t shrink-wrapped.

4. Do not continue to write if the recipient doesn't write back. Take the hint. Recognize that the person is ignoring you and either hated the Care Package you sent and traded it at the local bazaar for something 100 times better, or simply didn't find you or your typewritten letter that interesting. Don't be a damn menace.

5. Don't send canned foods without can openers. We might be Soldiers but we're not the T.V. hero MacGyver. Basic training doesn't cover opening cans with bean sprouts and toothpicks. Yes, we know you have a lot of confidence in us, but get some common sense. It's like sending chips but no salsa or coffee but no creme. It happens all the time and we're sick of it.

6. Don't put "Word Finds" in your care package. How effing old do you think your audience is over here? The minimum age of a person to join the military is seventeen, and that's with their parents permission. Don't insult our intelligence. Yes, we joined the military, but we can also tie our own shoes and operate a phone. You may as well just send us coloring books or a poster-sized letter that says we support you retarded morons.

7. The meanest thing you can do to a soldier is to send generic, not name brand goods. It's worse than taking a dump in a cardboard box and shipping it over. Did we piss you off somehow? Generic brand is essentially the MREs of Care Packages. It's cruel and unusual punishment for service to our country.

8. Don't ever ever ever send school supplies unless we ask. Tell us first, so at least we know that when we open the Care Package not to expect anything of value. School supplies are worthless to us. There's only so many school supplies a soldier can hand out. We have other missions. There is a war going on or are you still reading the useless news magazines you try peddling off on soldiers overseas?

10. Do not send Boohbahs. Jezuz. Are these intended for the local children? Are you trying to scare the living sh#t out of them? Why not send something less scary, like bloody eyeballs or a figurine of Michael Jackson."

Monday, March 26, 2007

My neice Kattiria Pacheco, 27 years old, from Albequerque, New Mexico has been missing since February 10th and her family misses her terribly, especially her 3 young children.

If you have seen her, or have any information in regards to her disappearance, please contact me at threejarr@yahoo.com

Thanks so much in advance for your help ~ also, if anyone knows how I can get this across the web in another way so it gets out to more of the public please also contact me and let me know how I can accomplish this.

If anyone knows of any sites I may not have come across, or knows of any other information that might be helpful to the family, please contact Renee at her email threejarr@yahoo.com , or leave a message in the comments here and I will pass it on to her.

Thank you, for whatever you can do. And we will be keeping Renee and her family, and her missing niece, in our prayers.

Friday, March 23, 2007

I'm suddenly seeing it all over MySpace. I'm probably a day late and a dollar short again on keeping up with the news.....2 weeks ago on Yahoo Answers, someone posted a message asking if anyone had heard of it. Check it out, and tell me what you think?

For 'non-Internet news".....please keep another friend and family in your prayers this weekend, as a second son leaves for deployment to Iraq.

And I have been receiving letters from "D", my boyfriend's son in Army Basic training. He is doing well, and says time is "flying by"....for those of us here at home, it seems forever till June will get here! It's been delightful to receive letters from him,though:) I suppose I thought he wouldn't really be 'into' writing letters (the "IM generation",lol)...so I've been pleasantly surprised at how much he's written to us!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

I came up with two ideas the other night, (just in case I didn't already spend enough time on the web,lol:)

One of them was to try to come up with a listing of blogs by members of Soldiers Angels, because I keep seeing partial lists of blogs on other people's blogrolls,but I've never found a complete listing.

and if you think your blog belongs on that list (or would like your blog removed) just send me an email at kasee267@aol.com

My other idea was for the members of Soldiers Angels who are on MySpace. I realized that there are so many members there who blog that trying to include those blogs on the list would make it Endless,lol.....so over on MySpace, I started a "Soldiers Angels Blogs" blog group, for members of Soldiers Angels on MySpace who blog.

(And then, typically,I realized I didn't know how to tell people to FIND the blog group...."another dorky moment",LOL:)

If you're a Soldiers Angels member who blogs on MySpace, here's a link to my profile

Respected and dedicated to the Corps and still able to be a husband and father. Rowe, who was on his fourth deployment since joining the Corps in 1985, died with two other Marines, Lance Cpl. Nicholas Wilt, 23, of Tampa, Florida, and 1st Lt. Ronald Winchester, 25, of Rockville Center, N.Y., when a remote-controlled explosive device detonated as they returned to their vehicle after inspecting a bridge in Anbar province, near the Syrian border.

"He was a quiet, humble person and extremely polite," his widow, Dawn, recalled from their early days of dating. "He was a traditional type of gentleman. My mom was surprised to meet such a ... perfect-picture Marine."

"He did a great job balancing a pretty intense Marine Corps career with also being a great husband and father. He worked extremely hard to balance it."

"He was so dedicated to the Marine Corps. He was really driven and believed in what he did. He was a Marine’s Marine. Tall, blond and fit. Kind of the mental image you think of when you think of the Marine Corps."

A week after his death, Capt. Rowe was posthumously promoted to major. He leaves behind his wife and two children.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. If you would like to participate in honoring the brave men and women who serve this great country, you can find out how by going here.

Monday, March 19, 2007

(and I don't anticipate any freakish MAY snowstorms,lol, like this last one that changed my plans for attending Gathering of Eagles )

I'm SO excited to be attending, there are so many folks I'll finally get to meet in person....like Sean and his wife , Toni , Yankeemom , Laurie ........the list goes on and on:) and also seeing all the panelists, like the founder of Soldiers Angels, Patti Patton-Bader .

I was also excited to see that one of the other registrants is Joe Loong ,hey, who knew I'd also get a chance to see the AOL Journals Editor?

I don't consider myself a very important blogger,lol, more like just a dorky troop supporter who happens to have a blog:) but I think the Milblog Conference will be a Great learning experience, and a Great Time. I won't be able to attend the cocktail reception the night before, but I'll be there all day on the day of the conference!!

Renee is preparing 250 Welcome Home cards for a unit returning home, and is asking for donations to offset the cost (starting at $1.00 :) For more information about that, you can contact her at threejarr@yahoo.com

and a fellow Soldiers Angel member who sells Avon is running a fundraiser until April 11....if you order from her site, 50% of the proceeds will go to Soldiers Angels !

Friday, March 16, 2007

And Gathering of Eagles is Still going to happen....but as we are getting slammed here in the Valley with a winter snowstorm (while the weather people keep talking about a flood watch because of the rain,LOL,figures)

it's iffy as to whether or not we'll be able to go tomorrow. Just have to wait and watch and see. (Darn it.)

Also,My oldest son's fiancee and her family would surely appreciate some prayers, her maternal grandmother was in a very bad car accident. Thank you.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

(This post is courtesy of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. There is more about that at the end of this post.)

Almost a month ago, the Wednesday Hero Blogroll received an email from a reader named Mike Gardner that contained something he had written in honor of this country's heroes. He asked that it be considered for a future post. It took almost a month, but here is his tribute.

At The Right Time, We Remember

The honor roll goes back farther than we can remember, it contains names we will never know...

I wasn't there when the American Colonial Army stood winter guard in the snows of Valley Forge wearing bloody rags for boots as they fought for my freedom.

I wasn't there in the war of 1812.

I wasn't in the trenches when the German's seared the lungs of young American men with mustard gas as they fought for my freedom in World War One.

I wasn't at Pearl Harbor when a single Japanese bomb detonated a million pounds of black powder on the Arizona and instantaneously killed over one thousand American sailors preparing to defend my freedom against the Japanese and the Nazis.

I didn't see the bullet riddled bodies of the Americans who died defending my freedom in Korea.

I only vaguely remember the nightly news clips of American soldiers as they carried out our government's orders in the jungles and swamps and tunnels of Vietnam.

I have never been with a family who lost a son or a daughter defending Kuwait, Afghanistan, or Iraq.

I wasn't there with any of them when they suffered as prisoners of war in any of these wars.

I have never been with a family whose child died in a peace time military training exercise.

Not every one of our veterans saw combat. Some were clerks, cooks, mechanics, machinists. Some served during war time, some served during peace time, some serve in peace today, ready for battle tomorrow.

Today they prepare for the ongoing war against terrorists. Some gave their lives, some suffered wounds, some saw things that no human should ever have to see, and many did things that no human should ever have to do. And all gave their daily life, for a period of time, while many more gave their time to work in the industries that sustained our veterans.

Not all of those who have protected my freedom were even in the military. Some of them were the firemen, policemen, and paramedics who risked their lives each day, rushing in where most of us would never tread. Some are the doctors and nurses who treat the wounded, and go home and cry for them.

Some of them were "just" passengers on commercial airline flights who, with faith in Christ, calmly chose to fight, and die if necessary, rather than let Flight 93 be used as a weapon against their country and their fellow citizens.

When I tried to join the US Air Force, my application was turned down for medical reasons.

Because others were, and will be there, I am privileged to continue to live in the greatest nation the world has ever known and to enjoy the greatest freedoms that any people have ever known.

The honor roll stretches forward to times, and places, and names we will never know...

And so I thank you, veteran, whoever you are, and wherever you are, whenever your service. Thank you Vet.

Thanks Dad.

Today, I remember WHY I am free, and I thank you. I know that when you were asked, at the right time, like Christ, you gave your life for me.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. If you would like to participate in honoring the brave men and women who serve this great country, you can find out how by going here.

No, I didn't fall off the side of a mountain after we went to the Highland Maple festival this past weekend,lol. We actually had a lovely weekend, with both the festival and then visiting with family....my cousin and his wife welcomed a new baby girl last week, and everyone got together to see her:) and the weather was absolutely gorgeous both Saturday and Sunday. Almost 60 degrees both days, sun shining,blue skies.....days that make you glad to be outside!

The Maple festival was a blast....we walked around viewing the crafts, went to a sugar camp, and ate Way too much....maple doughnuts, maple sugar candy, and then bought some maple cream spread and also buckwheat pancake mix and maple syrup,so we can continue to get fat long after our visit,lol. We also drove around afterwards,visiting some places in the mountains where we used to live.

Sunday I visited my grandson, who is getting SO Big:) and then went to the cousin's house to welcome the new baby, and also played H-O-R-S-E in basketball, and since it's been about 300 years since I last did that....guess who L-O-S-T? My cousin took both my daughter and I for a short ride on his new cycle, my boyfriend shook his head later when he asked me "What kind of bike was it?" and I replied,"Ummm....Maroon and Black?"

Guess I'm just not a 'biker chick',LOL, but even if I don't pay attention to what type of motorcycle I'm riding on.....there's just nothin' in the world like a bike ride on a warm,sunny day in the springtime!!!

Sunday evening was spent catching up on writing cards and letters, had to send a note to Our Young Man in Basic, and condolence cards for the fallen being remembered by the Soldiers Angels Living Legends Team , that is always a somber and sobering chore, and prayers are being sent up for those families.

This will be very helpful in giving us some idea of how many Eagles will be in attendance on the 17th and how many will be supporting us from home.

If you plan to be there, sign in. Those who just can’t attend but stand with us in spirit are asked to sign the second petition.

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I've been busy this week (new glasses, daughter got contact lenses,sending mail and receiving mail from Our Young Man in Basic Training,LOL,oh yes,and WORK) but wanted to pass on the above information, and also a few other things of interest.

Regarding the recent tornado in AL,don't know how many folks are aware of how connected the loss of life was to those in the military?

Her relentless can-do attitude led her to volunteer for Iraq. And then to volunteer for the Lioness Program, which provides female Marines for searches of Iraqi women to respect Muslim cultural mores.

Parcell was killed Feb. 7 in Anbar province when a woman she was searching blew herself up with a suicide vest. Parcell had started doing the searches a week before and was three weeks from going home.

Monday, March 5, 2007

I can't believe my little blog is a year old today! :) But the other day I was searching through my archives for something previously posted, and happened to click on the very first entry I posted, and was surprised to see it was March 5th,2006. Click here: How It Started

Wow,what a year this has been! I'm sure this will come as no surprise to many of you (and I still can't quite figure out how many readers I have,lol, partly because my hit counter on this journal seems to go wacky every time there is any kind of update for Anything having to do with AOL journals,so I have to keep resetting it...and partly because,well....I'm just not that good at math. I tried to take the current number on the hit counter,divided by 12 months, but that figure was so large I reckoned I must have made a mistake. So then I tried to take what I think is the average amount of hits I get per day, and multiply that by 30 days in a month....which was a very Different number from the first number,rofl, so by that time I just gave up and said "well, I apparently have readers,at least"....so THANK YOU, whoever and however many of you there are!!)

And darn it...once again I have gotten sidetracked....let me go back and read that first sentence in the last paragraph, to remember what I started to say :) Ahhh,yes, "I'm sure this will come as no surprise to many of you"....but I have never,ever read anything about "How to Blog",LOL.

I just write, and post the things I want to post... which one of the Top Ten Bloggers I Most Admire (Sean at Doc in the Box ) says is how he does it..."I blog about what I want to,when I want to".....sound advice,I think, I've passed on those sage words of wisdom to others.

And just as I had no idea when I joined Soldiers Angels exactly where the journey would take me, or what some of the unexpected side effects would be Click here: A One Year Anniversary:)

writing this blog has been the same. For instance, I had no idea when I decided to honor my Grandad that it would lead to contact from one of his former shipmates in WW II, and to my family and I receiving a history of the ship he served on and a picture that no one in our family had ever seen of him before.

or that stopping by the 2,996 blog after tributes were posted would lead to me agreeing to honor two other men (see my sidebar) and that it would lead to yet another online friendship, with someone else who was awake that crazy night trying to make sure everyone who died on 9/11 was honored. Click here: the Unending Journey of the Wandering Author

It is the people I have gotten to 'meet' because of my blogging that are the most treasured unexpected side effect for me. Whether it's people here in J-Land (as the AOL Journals community is called),like Leslie , Emily , the Freeman's , Tom , a fellownurse , or a single mom or many others .....

and many others.....the 'human connection' has made this journey through the past year delightful, and always interesting. I have been fortunate enough not to ever be attacked by 'trolls', and while it may be difficult for people who don't have an AOL or AIM account to comment, rest assured that if someone really has something they want to say to me, they send me an email :)

My blog is a very small 'voice' in a very Large pond, but I am happy to be writing my posts, happy that other people will stop by to read them, and happy to discover that apparently I Can string coherent sentences together when I write,lol. (Talking coherently is still a skill I'm working on.)

I remember when I started this, JP of Milblogging.com sent me a very nice email, that said "It's about time." (that I started a blog.) I thought to myself at the time "what have I got to Say??!!" and worried that this blog might fade away over time.

But, we've made it to the one year mark:) and I'm still here at my keyboard.

So, again, a big THANK YOU! to all who stop by here.

And HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY! to my little blog :)

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As always, God bless our troops, and their families.

THEY are the reason I Can sit here at my keyboard, and send my words out into the world,without worrying about censorship, or being arrested and hauled away somewhere if someone doesn't like what I write.

So, if you'd like to help me celebrate? Please consider stopping by Soldiers Angels , or any of the other Troop Support sites listed at the side, and get involved in supporting our troops :)

Friday, March 2, 2007

First off, a belated Congratulations! to the Milbloggie Winners on Milblogging.com (Click the link to see the winners) JP did, IMHO, a wonderful job of running the Milbloggies and dealing with website technical difficulties,all while preparing to deploy soon.

Next, Soldiers Angels is mobilizing to help the military families of Ft. Rucker, AL, after the recent tornado which hit Enterprise, and also Ft. Rucker

(and in the "it's a small world" department.....I lived in Ft. Rucker as a child, when Dad was in the Army. Probably why I still love helicopters to this day.)

Our prayers go out to All the families of Ft. Rucker and of Enterprise. As the parent of a high schooler myself, my heart weeps for them, it is every parent's worst nightmare.

I have finally finished reading The Blog of War by Matthew Currier Burden of Blackfive (I ordered it for myself while ordering The Illustrated Manual of Sniper Skills for son #2 as a birthday gift,lol, isn't that what every mother buys their son for their 21rst? It's what he asked for,though :) The Blog of War was a great read, and I re-read some entries I remembered reading for the first time on the 'Net, and also read some new entries that I hadn't seen before from some excellent bloggers. All in all, it felt most like a visit with some old 'friends', to read some of the blog entries selected for the book. A very good book, I highly recommend it.

About Me

Wife of an Army vet, daughter of an Army vet, granddaughter of a Navy vet,proud niece of an Army nurse who served in Vietnam,mother of 3 and stepmother to a currently serving Army MP..believe wholeheartedly in supporting our troops and veterans! Grandmother to 2 beautiful boys,love my life:)